Today's Fantasy Rx

Fifteen NL starters now have dominated at least in four starts, and while I discussed six of them last week, the other nine now merit your attention.

I'm not even mildly surprised that Quantrill, Borowski, Smoltz, and Gagne remain the only NL relievers with more than seven appearances and no disastrous outings. I'm currently intrigued by two bullpen duos of lefty-righty short relievers. Florida's setup twosome joins last week's quartet as the only NL relievers with nine dominant appearances, and Houston's late-inning closers are the only new pitchers to reach seven dominant outings without any disasters.

QA score for starts: up to 5 total points, one for each statistical goal, to any starter who pitches at least 5 innings and fulfills any of the following skill qualifications: K>=IP-2, BB<=IP/3, H<=IP, HR<=1, and G-F>=1.00. Any starter who doesn't reach any of the required statistical goals or fails to pitch 5 innings earns a 0 QA score.

24445
Brian Lawrence: 2-2 on a 26:9 K:BB in 33 IP over 5 GS with 21 H, 2 HR, and a 45-29 G-F; 3.00 ERA. San Diego pitchers remain no more than reasonable gambles thanks to the Padres' questionable offense and unstable pen. However Lawrence and Adam Eaton combine to give the team to very valuable fantasy commodities even if each pitcher is limited to contributions in two-to-three categories. Expecting more than a dozen wins for Lawrence is unreasonably optimistic, yet an improved San Diego defense should enable him to maintain a sub-9.0 hit rate, a welcome improvement over last season's 9.9 H/9, even if Lawrence won't hold his current 5.7 H/9. He's a useful commodity who merits ownership in any league, so especially if you need qualitative help, target him for your staff.

44424
Kerry Wood: 3-1 on a 40:14 K:BB in 33 IP over 5 GS with 22 H, 2 HR, and a 40-37 G-F; 3.00 ERA. Wood's three April wins suggest he only needs to remain healthy to nicely exceed his previous career best of 13 victories. His 10.9 K/9 certainly demonstrates his continued dominance, however a 3.8 BB/9 yet again indicates he lacks the consistent control necessary to develop into a qualified ace. Although adding Wood would improve nearly any pitching staff, anyone in leagues that don't count strikeout should exercise some hesitance if interested in dealing for Kerry.

444
A.J. Burnett: 0-1 on a 15:12 K:BB in 17.1 IP over 3 GS with 14 H, 1 HR, and a 24-19 G-F; 3.64 ERA. Control difficulties aren't exactly a new problem for Burnett, although his otherwise solid skills across the board indicate a successful return from his injury troubles. However he reached 113 pitches in his second start back, and we still can't trust his health. Of course his arm problems could leave him as a nice bargain in some leagues if you're willing to take the risk inherent in anyone pitching for Jeff Torborg.

45243
Roy Oswalt: 2-2 on a 27:11 K:BB in 32.2 IP over 5 GS with 32 H, 4 HR, and a 55-31 G-F; 3.86 ERA. Oswalt again looks like one of the best pitchers in baseball, and only surprising trouble limiting hits over his last three starts prevents me from recommending him more thoroughly. His 2.5 K:BB is also well off his 4.1 career norm, however none of these marks appears particularly poor. Feel free to grab him in trade if you need a staff anchor.

03544
Matt Clement: 2-2 on a 26:13 K:BB in 31.1 IP over 5 GS with 20 H, 3 HR, and a 47-24 G-F; 2.59 ERA. Ignoring Clement's first start, when he left after three innings due to injury concerns, he owns a 1.91 ERA on a 24:11 K:BB in 28.1 IP, numbers that suggest he should continue pitching at the impressive level he finally reached last year. Only his control even mildly worries us, however overall I see little that separates Clement from Kerry Wood at this point. Any owner should be pleased to own either starter.

24434
Javier Vazquez: 3-1 on a 46:5 K:BB in 32.2 IP over 5 GS with 28 H, 4 HR, and a 25-36 G-F; 2.48 ERA. Vazquez' .69 G-F leaves him at risk for a high homer rate, however his fantastic 12.7 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 rank him with any starter in baseball. Unfortunately I don't see him maintaining this wins' rate, and his ERA will rise in direct correlation with his homer rate, but otherwise he's an excellent pitcher to own, particularly if you want to add a strikeout machine with a solid WHIP to your staff.

44304
Glendon Rusch: 1-3 on a 26:5 K:BB in 28 IP over 5 GS with 40 H, 2 HR, and a 42-21 G-F; 7.39 ERA. Bail from owning Rusch now since he shows no indication of emerging as a dominant or even consistent contributor. He still owns great command and a good strikeout rate, however he simply can't limit his hit rate to an acceptable level. If you can't bench him, you probably should release Rusch at your first opportunity since he won't win many games even if his ERA improves.

4244
Carlos Zambrano: 3-1 on a 25:11 K:BB in 24.1 IP over 4 GS with 21 H, 1 HR, and a 33-19 G-F; 2.61 ERA. Although Zambrano won't maintain this great ERA without a lower walk rate, he otherwise seems as solid a choice as any Cubs' right-handed starter. All four of Chicago's top starters hold impressive collections of skill ratios right now, and while I'm concerned about Zambrano's rising pitch counts, I'd be more concerned if I believed he would turn only 22 this June. I see little reason not to own Zambrano as he could finish with the second most roto value of any Cub pitcher.

4045
Zach Day: 1-1 on a 13:10 K:BB in 24.1 IP over 4 GS with 19 H, 1 HR, and a 42-9 G-F; 2.59 ERA. Day doesn't own a particular solid skill set, but anyone with a 4.67 G-F should continue to pitch effectively as long as they can hold a low WHIP. He appears capable of maintaining both his current walk and hit rates, and since his homer rate shouldn't increase any time soon, you should hold onto Day if you were lucky enough to roster him this spring.

QA score for relief outings: up to 5 total points, one for each statistical goal, to any reliever who retires at least one batter and fulfills any of the following skill qualifications: K>=IP, BB=0, H<=IP, HR=0, and G-F>=1.00. Any reliever who doesn't reach any of the required statistical goals or fails to retire a batter earns a 0 QA score.

We've included the five most recent PQA scores for each reliever.

9 DOM, 3 DUL, 1 DIS
Armando Almanza(54343): 2-0 on a 15:2 K:BB in 10.1 IP over 13 G with 11 H, 2 HR, and an 11-7 G-F; 2.38 ERA. As he owns a career strikeout rate of 10.2 K/9, this level of dominance doesn't particularly surprise me. The good news here is that his 1.7 BB/9 is a significant improvement over his 6.1 career norm. While he won't see sufficient innings as a specialist to contribute too much either qualitatively or quantitatively to any team, Almanza looks like one of the safest NL middle relievers to own this year.

9 DOM, 0 DUL, 2 DIS
Tim Spooneybarger(44425): 1-0 on a 6:2 K:BB in 10.1 IP over 11 G with 4 H, 1 HR, and a 18-7 G-F; 3.18 ERA. Spooneybarger isn't displaying the level of dominance we'd like to see from a closer-in-waiting, however I otherwise see no problem at all with these numbers. Florida inevitably will trade Looper as he enters arbitration, and Spooneybarger and Almanza should anchor this bullpen for the next few years. Particularly in keeper leagues, you should seek to add this solid reliever if you can obtain him at a reasonable price.

7 DOM, 4 DUL, 0 DIS
Billy Wagner(43434): 1-0 and 4 Saves on a 12:6 K:BB in 12.2 IP over 11 G with 9 H, 0 HR, and a 12-9 G-F; 1.42 ERA. Although he's no longer the premiere closer in the league thanks to the emergence of Smoltz and Gagne, Wagner ranks right behind those bullpen aces as the most dynamic left-handed reliever in baseball. I suspect his walk rate will decrease as the year progresses, but as long as his dominance is solid and he limits opposition homers, Wagner again should finish the season among the top five most valuable closers in the league.

7 DOM, 2 DUL, 0 DIS
Octavio Dotel(35453): 1-1 on a 12:3 K:BB in 11 IP over 9 G with 6 H, 1 HR, and a 9-9 G-F; 2.46 G-F. Though I wish Dotel wasn't quite so prone towards groundballs, he continues to display the skills that rank him as the best middle reliever in the game. Houston may not be able to afford both Wagner and Dotel after this season, however they'll own a distinct advantage over every other team as long as they can employ both pitchers at the end of games. I can't imagine a league in which I wouldn't be very happy to own Dotel.

Tomorrow, like every Sunday, we'll post our preview of the coming week's games and our CDM challenge lineups.

Today's Fantasy Rx: With nearly four weeks elapsed in the season, you may begin examining your team with a critical eye. When determining if your team needs to fix any holes immediately, remember not to either overvalue early All-Stars or to discount potential contributions from players who've struggled through the first few weeks of this year.